A breaker that boasts a lifetime warranty

In an ideal scenario, a lifetime warranty for a product means it will be repaired or replaced for ever, no matter who owns it or how it was broken.

There would be no limit on the number of repair attempts for a recurring problem or limitations on payments for incidental or consequential damages such as loss of use or transport expenses. The lifetime warranty would place no set duration on any implied warranties or the sales lifespan or the fitness of a product for its purpose.

A product warranty suggests longevity, reliability and quality. But they don?t always deliver.

With warranties now offered as a standard competitive strategy, what happens when they start to have a negative impact on your operations?

Timms Haulage in Brisbane operates an extensive fleet of trucks, plant and machinery. With more than 250 trucks available daily, plus excavators ranging from three to 70 tonnes, graders, loaders, bobcats and dozers, there are a host of warranty terms to be navigated to keep the fleet in operating order.

After experiencing ongoing warranty issues with a large hydraulic hammer attachment from a well established manufacturer, Timms Haulage was left feeling its best option was to commission a new breaker.

It selected a different breaker manufacturer, backed by a trusted specialist breaker distributor with proven service quality capabilities and application knowledge.

Despite its hammer being in operation for only 12 months, the company?s experience with ongoing lifetime warranty failures led to ongoing delays and inconvenience to operations and production. Excessive lead times of more than two months for critical parts weren?t acceptable, especially for a premium brand breaker that was only a year old.

Working with the local team at breakers and attachments specialist BA Equipment Group, Timms Haulage decided to replace the problematic breaker with a new HB3100 from Atlas Copco.

Atlas Copco geared up its distribution in Australia earlier this year and appointed BA Equipment Group as its new distributor in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Atlas Copco learnt of Timms Haulage?s issues with its competitor?s large hammer and actively worked with BA to provide a new HB3100 breaker as a replacement.

{{image2-a:r-W:200}}TRIAL RESULTS

In July 2013, Timms Haulage put the Atlas Copco HB3100 to use and tested the breaker on its Hitachi ZX350 35-tonne excavator, required to carry out bulk excavation and secondary breaking at a new construction job site near Redcliffe, about 30km north of Brisbane.

The ground conditions varied greatly from semi-fractured to very hard rock. Within the first hour of operation, Gavin, one of Timms? operators, was impressed by the speed in which he could break through and bulk out the material.

BA Equipment Group?s field service technician and state manager, as well as Atlas Copco?s Queensland and northern New South Wales construction equipment manager, were in attendance for the start-up and trial.

The company?s excavator operator for the trial commented on the low noise and low vibration from the vibro-silenced system of the HB3100 breaker.

He was also impressed by the auto-control feature, which automatically controls the impact energy and the impact frequency rate, ensuring maximum impact performance and blow frequency in varying ground conditions.

After the initial trial, the operator remarked that he had operated a number of different breakers previously on 30- and 40-tonne-plus excavators and that in his opinion the HB3100 was the best breaker he had ever operated.

After a successful trial of the Atlas Copco HB3100, Timms Haulage purchased the new heavy breaker and Mark Timms commented that it was one of the most productive hammers he had seen.

During on-site commissioning and operator training, BA Equipment Group provided the Atlas Copco safety and operating instructions, to help the customer operate and maintain the breaker to the manufacturer?s specifications.

With past warranty issues still fresh in its collective mind, Timms Haulage?s concerns were allayed by the terms of Atlas Copco?s three year ?1plus2? warranty program, which is available free of charge for all new breakers in the Atlas Copco breaker product range and BA Equipment Group?s reputation for standing behind the products it sells.

While other breaker suppliers offer extended or lifetime warranty coverage with set terms, Atlas Copco does not require the breaker to be fully stripped and a list of new parts to be replaced once every year in order for the customer to obtain the next 12 months of coverage.

Only one external inspection of the breaker is required every 12 months and it can be carried out on the customer?s job site or yard in less than an hour.

Once the breaker purchase is registered online with Atlas Copco by BA Equipment Group, the standard one year warranty is extended for an additional two years.

 

It allows unlimited operating hours and covers the warranty risk for the breaker?s main components. 

?The Atlas Copco warranty is simple, upfront, fair and honest,? BA Equipment Group?s managing director Campbell Nunn said. 

?It is not a service contract dressed up as a lifetime warranty. Atlas Copco and BA Equipment stand behind the products we sell,” he added.

BA Equipment Group operates custom designed service centres in Brisbane and Perth, with a team of specially trained and industry experienced hydraulic technicians and field technicians and specialised service vehicles.

It provides warranty service, scheduled services and breakdown service for all brands of hydraulic attachments. ?